Blue Origin to build second lunar lander for NASA

(Blue Origin/NASA https://go.nasa.gov/41Pl3s4)

NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract to develop a second lunar lander for the Artemis program.

It will be used during the Artemis-5 flight to land astronauts on the south pole of the moon in 2029.

The HLS (Human Landing System) should enable astronauts of the Artemis program to land on the moon and return from its surface to the lunar Gateway station, as well as transport cargo.

In 2020, NASA selected three companies to develop the system. The competition was won by SpaceX with the project of the lunar version of the Starship spacecraft.

However, two other companies (Blue Origin and Dynetics) appealed the decision.

The protests were dismissed, after which Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in the US Federal Court, which they then lost.

Nevertheless, in the spring of 2022, NASA launched a separate competition for the creation of a module that does not cancel the contract with SpaceX.

As I’ve written before, the Starship will deliver two astronauts to the south pole of the moon in 2025 as part of the Artemis- 3.

Now NASA has announced that it has awarded a contract to Blue Origin to design, build and test its Blue Moon lunar lander.

The contract, totaling $3.4 billion, also includes an unmanned demonstration flight of the module.

Blue Moon is expected to be used during the Artemis 5 flight in 2029.

During that flight, two of the four astronauts who arrived at the Gateway station on the Orion spacecraft will transfer to the module and land for one week at the south pole of the moon.

Sources:

• NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-blue-origin-as-second-artemis-lunar-lander-provider/
• CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/19/world/nasa-lunar-lander-spacex-blue-origin-scn/index.html

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